


When Our Eyes Met

by Urby



Series: Azurrin Week [8]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe, Azurrin Week 2018, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 16:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15953480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Urby/pseuds/Urby
Summary: A princess and a dragon are born. Each one is given a prophecy... Azurrin week 2018, September 10th: Blessing / Curse





	When Our Eyes Met

When the king and queen of Valla brought their daughter into the world, they celebrated with a great feast and festival, full of music and dance and joy. People of land and sea came together to welcome the young princess into the world and share their hopes for her future. Already she was beautiful, and her eyes were bright with curiosity and intelligence. If she would be anything like her mother, she would become a talented performer when she grew into her voice and her legs, said many. Many said, if she took after her father, she would grow graceful in speech and composure. And like all true Vallites, she already showed great promise with water, floating and swimming with ease.

Amongst the gathered, there was a fortune-teller whose power was even more amazing than how young she seemed. When the food had gone around and the festivities had quieted down, she approached the king and queen.

"The child will grow to have the heart of a dragon," the fortune-teller pronounced.

What a blessing, her parents said. It must mean that she will rule fiercely but justly, when her time comes. Dragons, after all, were wise and powerful creatures, challenged by none other.

And yet, the more the princess grew, the more withdrawn she became. She was quiet unless engaged, and even then, it was clear she preferred the company of her own thoughts than that of other people. When asked, she would sing and dance with grace and poise, but not any real joy.

The queen pondered this, remembering the fortune-teller's words. Perhaps having the heart of a dragon meant also that her daughter would be moody like one. Dragons, though they banded together in tribes, did not especially tolerate crowds, and were powerful enough to make their displeasure about them known when they were forced to gather.

The queen kept this in mind and continued to nurture the young princess.

* * *

When the great king of the dragon tribe announced that his firstborn had hatched, dragons and those strong in magic gathered to acknowledge the newborn. Rivalries old and new were put aside in respect of the king's pride. Gifts of astounding magnificence were exchanged, and when the moon was bright and high in the sky, the chief brought out his son. Those who were present saw great potential in the young drake. Such bright scales, like the morning sun. The stars in the night sky were not as bright as his sharp, glittering teeth. And a hunger as deep as the ocean! A mighty dragon he would grow to be, surely.

Amongst those attending was a seer, known for his uncannily accurate predictions...when he saw it fit to share them.

"Hm? Oh, you would like some kind of sign for the little kid, wouldn't you? Well, here's one: when he grows up, he will have the heart of a human."

This disquieted the king of the dragons quite a lot. What have we done to deserve this curse, he brooded. As much as he loved the humans, he knew that if his son would have the heart of one, the little one would grow weak and frail and foolhardy. After all, humans could not compare to dragons in many ways.

He raised his son with a firm hand, making sure to test and uplift the young drake's capabilities at every opportunity. The prince seemed well enough: he could hunt and swim and fly like other youngsters could, but not any much better. Instead, he seemed to prefer observing things. He would allow animals and small birds to approach him rather than stalking them. Rather than cultivating his hoard, the prince gave his findings away freely, treasuring the reaction of others rather than the objects he had earned and gathered.

The king saw this, and saw a real kindness in the prince - one that he had rarely seen in other dragons, but found so often in humanity. Humans, as frail as they were, had a unity and love that was unmatched elsewhere. Perhaps a dragon with such qualities would be good for the tribe. Perhaps not.

The king made sure that the young prince was ready to take over leading the tribe, and that meant more and more training. The prince needed to be strong. After all, the tribe needed a strong dragon to lead the migration, one that could face the wind's force and danger so that the tribe could reach their winter home. The lives of those too young or old to bear the wind counted on the dragon taking point, and this year, the king yielded the responsibility to his son.

The wind promised cold and turbulence. The king himself did not like the sky on that day, but he urged the tribe on. The prince looked upon the gathered dragons and asked his father to hold off another day.

"Father, we should wait until the clouds part. The hatchlings have delicate wings."

"Then you must bear the cold for them," the king of dragons said. "We must leave today."

The prince argued no further. When he took off, so did the rest of the tribe. Whatever storm the sky held did not break, but the wind was strong and frigid regardless.

The dragon prince needed not have been frail of heart to have failed - even the fittest of dragons found that leading the migration was a difficult and exhausting task. But, not long after taking to the sky and brunting the full force of the wind for the entire tribe, the prince fell to the earth, his wings unable to hold himself aloft.

* * *

The Vallite princess was practicing her singing at her favorite lake. The water was smooth despite the stormy sky. She rather liked the fact that the weather was bad, because then no one would be out to look for her in quite a while.

There was a song that her mother taught her, one that she had been working on for years trying to perfect. It was a song that was meant to calm an unquenchable rage, she was told. But, no matter how much she sang it, she still felt her own frustrations. That people demanded so much of her. That they treated her like the princess of Valla, or like a tiny goddess, or like a figure of glass, and not like a young woman.

Perhaps her singing was not yet good enough, or perhaps her anger was just not worth such a song.

She sang to the sky above, to the water below, to the growing storm. She sang, hoping that she could bring some kind of change. The water rippled under her feet. The wind nipped at her face.

A silver streak tore down and landed in the water, causing a splash so great that she could not surface for a minute. When the waves cleared, she saw a dragon, unmoving but still floating, in the middle of the lake. She swam over to the dragon - smaller than she thought dragons were - and looked into their face.

"Ah," the dragon said, in a voice young and gently masculine. "Sorry to interrupt you. I hope I didn't scare you."

The princess saw the dragon was hurt and exhausted, but he was more concerned about her. She brought him to the shore (he was light in the water) and stroked his face softly, trying to assess his state.

"I have never seen a real dragon before," she admitted. "But I was told many stories about them."

"I have never seen a human before either," said the dragon. "I was kept from them, but my father said he loved them."

The princess busied herself making the dragon comfortable. She knew a few things about horses, pegasi, and falicorns, which seemed like things that would apply to the vaguely equine dragon. The dragon was quiet as she worked, and though she could not see his eyes, she felt like she was being watched.

"What is your name?"

The princess stopped. Not only was this the first dragon she had ever met, but the first being who didn't seem to know who she was. He didn't know her as the princess of Valla, dragon-hearted, supposedly cold of disposition.

"I will tell you my name if you tell me yours," she offered instead of answering.

"My name is Corrin," said the dragon. "I hope we can be friends."

The princess blinked. This was also the first being who wanted nothing more than friendship from her.

"My name is Azura."


End file.
